Florida State and Virginia Share Lead After Day One of ACCs

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virg, February 25. THE Florida State Seminoles and University of Virginia Cavaliers are tied for the lead after the first day of competition of the 2004 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championship, being held at the Aquatic and Fitness Center on the grounds of the University of Virginia. The 2004 ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships will be conducted over four days, with the 800-yard freestyle relay and 200-yard medley relay being swum on Wednesday evening.

Virginia and Florida State are tied in first with 72 points, and N.C. State is currently in third with 60. Clemson's 58 points put them in fourth place, and Georgia Tech (56), Maryland (52), Duke (46), and North Carolina (34) round out the men's field.

The Virginia foursome of fourth-year Luke Wagner (Englewood, Colo./Regis Jesuit), first-year Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day), fourth-year Adam Kerpelman (Lutherville, Md./St. Paul's School), and fourth-year Ian Prichard (Ventura, Calif./Buena) clocked Virginia's fastest time of the season in winning the 800-yard freestyle relay, marking the Cavalier's sixth consecutive ACC title in the event. The Virginia men clocked a time of 6:29.59 to meet the NCAA "B" or consideration standard.

Florida State won an exciting 200 medley relay, which had four teams finish within a 24 hundredths of each other. The Florida State combination of Chris Vythoulkas, Wickus Nienaber, Michael Averett, and Michael Paulus touched first with a time of 1:28.95 (NCAA B). Virginia's team of Wagner, first-year Vanja Rogulj (Zagreb, Croatia/Split) , third-year Michael Raab (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson) , and fourth-year Jon Haag (Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) swam a time of 1:29.14 to place third and meet the NCAA "B" standard. N.C. State took second place with a time of 1:29.00 with Clemson finishing fourth in 1:29.14.

Place School Points
1 Florida State University FSU 72
1 University of Virginia UVA 72
3 N.C. State University NCSU 60
4 Clemson University CU 58
5 Georgia Tech GT 56
6 University of Maryland UMD 52
7 Duke University DUKE 46
8 University of North Carolina UNC 34